I just found some clips from a clinic I recently held in Norway on Youtube. Since they are with me I thought we could analyze them a little without the fear of stepping on sensitive-trainer-toes ;)

The quality varies and the language is Norwegian, but I thought that might be a good thing actually. You'll hear the same thing that the horse does; a bunch of sounds without understanding the meaning of the words! You don't know the tasks or my reasons for what I am doing, but neither does the horses. Sometimes I talk to the horse, most of the time I am explaining what I am doing to the audience, and that adds confusion for the horse of course.

There are several clips and I will post them one by one here and give you the info I had on the horses beforehand.

The most interesting part here is maybe that I have never met any of these horses before that weekend, and the horses are all reacting a bit to being in a new place, so there are many signals of tention and stress, calming signals etc

So... Can you figure out the signals? What do you see the horses responding to, and what do you see in the horses? And in me?
An anylyzis thing again, but this time... No joke ;)

I will post the clips as answers under here

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Unatural horsemanship clinic clip one

This is a young mare. She is three years old and I think this is her first trip to any clinic. Not sure if she has been in an indoor arena before. I am not sure, but I think this is filmed right in the beginning of the session with her

hm, well, I watched it twice.... seems like she is happier being close to you for comfort...... you are very gentle in your signals and she seems to be responding to that... I got that she was checking in with you alot to make herself feel more comfortable.... I didn't notice alot of other signals from her except for one long sigh that I heard..... she was very willing to join up with you.... she needed your leadership... she seems shy and unsure. I know this is not specific down to the last detail, but that's what I got out of it with my untrained eye....
:05 turned around to face you.
>05 to .29 when she came in you were teaching her to back off. You make a wall with your body by standing up straight. and putting your hand down vertically. When she responds, you release pressure.
.29-.36 You offer nyour shoulder to her to ask her to follow
.36-.40 I can't tell what you are doing with your arms, but she looks away.... (I wonder what that means?)
.57 she dops her head for the first time
1.05 you raise your hand to stop her?
1.14 you describe to your audience how to square your shoulders to create a wall of energy for her to stop.
1.20 you lean in to see if you can begin backing her. her ears go back.... she drops her nose into you... then she looks away.
1;26 you draw her back in.
She is following you really nice....

I know what you mean about different horses... more and more... thanks for your teaching!!
Jennifer; this was great! Now it's a lot easier for me to explain what I am doing and why :) We can do this with the other clips, too; tell me what you see and think and I will tell you what I see and my reasons for doing what I do.
What a team! :))
I am reposting the clip to make it easier to follow the time codes in this text (too long as usual!) and for the same reason I copied your comments and put them in italic


:05 turned around to face you.
>05 to .29 when she came in you were teaching her to back off. You make a wall with your body by standing up straight. and putting your hand down vertically. When she responds, you release pressure.


In the beginning here I am not trying to teach her any signals. The signals she is responding to, are signals that all horses understand naturally.

Simplified those signals are that if I move towards the horse I push it away, and if I move away I draw the horse to me.

The horse is very insecure in the situation and if i leave her alone, even mentally, for a moment she will start thinking about the situation and she would get worked up. So I am constantly asking her to do little things, changing and giving her release for every response. The idea is that by giving her tasks that she can understand and manage, I can praise her and she can get a sense of control. It's like I am asking her a stream of things:

- can you move back a little?
Great!
- can you move to me a little?
great!
-can you….
etc.

I don't want her to have time to think about anything else, and by asking her softly she likes this.

Imagine that you are at a busy airport in a strange country and you don't speak the language. The people you were traveling with are gone. You are alone, and have no idea what to do or where to go.

Someone comes up to you and says:
This is no problem! I know this place very well and I will help you. Just follow me. Ok, so.. first you do this. That's right, you are doing great! Now you need to do this. Perfect, see you will be OK :) Now do this… right again!

If at any time she doesn't understand what I mean I just change my request, I will not let her get stuck or start to think about things. Left to her own devises she will soon start panicking about her situation.

Now, imagine a person coming to you in that airport that simply grabs your arm, holds you tight and tells you to "Do this!" "do that!" If you do something wrong, they yell at you. Wouldn't feel quite as good I would think.

Then imagine that no one comes at all… you are alone and have no idea what to do. You have all the time in the world to panic.

Those are the things I am talking about and trying to show the horse. As light pressure and smooth movements as possible, but not giving her a chance to fade out.

As for the signals: When I talk about the push and the draw it's direction I am leaning in that is the main signal. That direction will always tell the horse where I am heading. Normally my body will be directed in that same direction, too, and if it's not (like if I am backing up) my signals are a bit confusing.

For her to be able to properly see these signals she needs to be a little bit away from me, and the problem is that she is so worried she wants to stay really close. If I ask her to move further away from me, she gets insecure, thinking I am going to leave her, and that's a scary thought.

What I am trying to convince her is that she can have a bit more distance, but that I will not leave her to herself.
So, from the beginning I move away from her front (drawing her to me) but not in a straight line. I move like I am on a circle, forwards and to the side away from the front, but also in the direction towards her hind. NOT directed right at the hindquarters, that would block her forward motion and would indicate pressure away from me, but in a direction so that if the horse stood still and I continued, I would end up right behind her tail. I look to the inside of the circle so that I can watch her response all the time, and also so she understand that I am still connected to her. I am moving away, but not leaving her.

When moving in this circular pattern the horse will, if it wants to get close, take the shortcut and end up on the inside. That is why moving away will get the horse closer, even though that doesn't seem logical at first.

So, as I draw her with me, she comes in close and I ask her for a stop, then a small step back (which worries her at first - am I going to leave her or tell her to get lost?) and then draw her back with me again. This shows clearly between 0.05 and 0.10. I push her back, and as I move away I am looking too much at her front and she thinks she isn't allowed to follow, so she looks insecure right away. Then I turn more away, widen the circle and she follows and comes in close.

Notice that she gets insecure every time I ask her to back up, and in the beginning she thinks I will push her away. When she gets insecure I invite her back to me.
My intention is to get her to understand that even though I am pushing her back a little I will NOT leave her, and she will be allowed back again.

She tends to look to the side when I back her. Another horse wouldn't back a horse away or ask it to move away in any direction without in fact telling the horse to get lost. The will move another horse away, but not draw them back again the way I am doing. So even though the signals I use is naturally understood, the message I am saying is not making much sense to her. (go away, come back, go away, come back…. ) I am waiting for her to understand that I want her with me, but at a little more distance.

The reason she always looks to the side of the camera is that the wall behind has a huge mirror where she can see herself. When she feels like I am going to push her away she gets drawn to "the other horse". Sometimes you can see her staring off in that direction and then I draw her to me in the opposite direction, away from the mirror. The mirror is also the reason why I don't line her up in that direction, I try to keep her focus away from the mirror.

As for my hand signal; when I get too close to her it's harder for her to see my leaning. I sometimes put my hand towards her chest and push her back with that (without touching) At the same time I look at her chest and my hand, trying to get her to focus on that area. Can you see her looking down at my hand when I do that.? It has even more that effect when I have the rope in that hand, too; that makes her want to look at it. To do that she has to step back… If she doesn't respond to that I just start over.

.29-.36 You offer your shoulder to her to ask her to follow

I am drawing her with me, but the shoulder is not the thing that signals it. The direction I am moving in (the circle path) and that I turn in the direction that I am going is what makes it happen. The difference is of little importance at this distance, but it matters when you are further away.

.36-.40 I can't tell what you are doing with your arms, but she looks away.... (I wonder what that means?)

I am asking her to back up, and this is one of the times when she gets upset by it, she thinks I am wanting to break the connection. Here we are also standing at an angle to the big mirror so she catches her reflection and that distracts her even further. I ask her to come with me again, and at the same time get her away from the view to the mirror.

.57 she dops her head for the first time

Not sure, but I think it's a calming signal. She is also starting to look a bit tired. The intense communication we'e had can only be done for a short time. If I succeed with it she will start to relax, and a sign of that would be that she could start taking in the surroundings in a more relaxed way. Her head drop could indicate any one of those things and even several of them.

Another difficult thing for her is that I am constantly talking to the audience and explaining. That means that I am not giving her my 100% attention, and that is something they pick up on. I would help her more if I only talked and focused on her, but this is a clinic and the purpose is for me to teach what I am doing, so I try to get away with a split attention. Sometimes I have to give all of it to the horse, other times they can handle that I am a little bit divided. I am mentioning this because that, too, could be a factor when the horse is "zoning" out a bit.


1.05 you raise your hand to stop her?

It's the same signal as for backing. The main thing is that I turn towards her and lean towards her when I ask her to back up, and the opposite when I ask her to follow. The hand and focus to it, is to draw her attention to that place.

At this point she is getting a bit nippy, and that is an indication that she is getting tired. I don't address that directly, I just ask her to do more stuff again and thereby distracting her.

1.14 you describe to your audience how to square your shoulders to create a wall of energy for her to stop.

Here I am saying stuff like:
- can you move back a little?
Great!
- can you move to me a little?
great!
-can you….
etc.

It's a little cheat from me ;) I am feeling that she needs my full attention here, so by saying the things I am asking from her out loud the audience can follow what I am doing, but I can have a bigger focus on the horse than when I am talking about other stuff than what I am doing in the moment.

I was talking about the reasons behind what I am doing, and when I do that my words aren't in synch with my motions, and that makes me have to focus more on what I am saying and less about what I am doing. When the horse needs more attention from me, I just switch over to talking to the horse about what I am doing, but now words and actions are in synch and I get a much stronger focus.

Keep in mind, I am not trying to get her to DO anything specific, I am only trying to keep her focus on me, and trying to make her feel like she can handle this.

1.20 you lean in to see if you can begin backing her. her ears go back.... she drops her nose into you... then she looks away.

I am still switching between "go back" and come here, but this time she is not responding. Now she is clearly tired and can't concentrate any more. She "spaces out" and starts thinking about my pouch instead. Since she is not responding I stop asking for the back up and move to start over again.

1;26 you draw her back in.
Yes, and then I ask again, and as you can see, she has had enough.

She is following you really nice....
That she does, but then horses do that when they feel like they are getting help. We stopped the session right after this, and since it was so short, I took her in again later that afternoon. The purpose of this first "round" was accomplished, she is a lot more relaxed and we start to know each other a little. If I continued it would turn into a negative experience instead.

Looking at it now, I probably should have stopped at 0.57 where she dropped her head; that was probably a sign of her being tired.
Jennifer (or anyone else)...
Any comments to my analyziz?
Or, any other thoughts you have on the other clips? You don't have to comment of course, but it would be good to know if what I write is useful to you.
Next day, I think, with the same horse

genius you are!! this horse of any horse in any video I've ever seen of any trainer anywhere is the most like my Oliver... she is not afraid of you or the bag..... even when you really move it and make noise with it she is not afraid..... but, she understands...... that you are asking her to move away.... it seems like you are teaching your students the benefits of asking them in and asking them out..... see how her ears are not always forward, but back a bit, I think after minute 3? What would you say that means? Very cool how you got her to respond so fast..... I must be a loser trainer because I can get Oliver to move away but he always comes right back in.... I must be rewarding at the wrong time.... in any event, what a fantastic demonstration of non aggressive training... :) wonderful.
She doesn't seem afraid of the bag when you introduce it, but she does bend down and sniff the rope for a long time ... a calming signal? Maybe she's not quite sure what you are up to with that bag!
When you start wagging the bag around, she freezes ... more calming signals! You reward her for standing still, but not for following you and the bag ... is that correct?
She seems much more secure than the day before in the previous clip. Is she close to you for comfort,
or for treats?
this clip was confusing to me..... because when I want my horse to come in I bend in the middle.... but when she followed you you put the bag up again.... but I'm not criticizing I'm just so curious... again, this horse is the most like mine so this is very interesting to me.... I mean wouldn't you agree? some horses would fly to the otherside of the arena if you shook that bag at them? lol.... now, she does look away.... and she does keep her ears back, again, language I've gotten from Oliver... and you are talking about energy I think..... right? blocking energy????? also, I have a question.... are you beginning to get her to back up? because she is still backing you up.. or you are backing up..... isn't it funny how so many trainers would say that you are moving your feet first, not the horse? what do you think about that???? is it okay to be the one moving first......
I see a willing fast learner that appears to me to be a bit used to pushing into people but realizes very quickly that she can not do that with you. Cool!

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